Dark Loyalties
by Screaming Ferret
Summary: Mara Jade returns to the Dark Side...


Authors note: I wrote this under the influence of the little blue smarties. I am completely dedicated to the power of the dark side. Mara Jade as the Emperors Hand is just so hard. The Emperor, of course, is completely misunderstood:) Its AU, my excuse for the mashed up timeline. Have fun, may the Force be with you...  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: it all belongs to Lucas.  
  
  
  
DARK LOYALTIES  
The return of the Emperor's Hand  
  
  
  
  
The two ships popped out of hyperspace in the system of Nala Rak , near the fifth planet of the system, Nala Rendil. Mara Jade at the helm of her borrowed ship, Nightshade, looked with satisfaction at the blue-green jewel of a world they were approaching. She opened the comm with a flick of a switch.  
  
"Well, that's Nala Rendil all right. Shouldn't be too hard to find the Temple. I've set a course for the largest continent. `Course, when I was here last they had a tracker beacon to guide supply shuttles in."  
  
"Would it be too much to hope that it would still be working?" Luke Skywalkers voice came over the comm, slightly distorted by the static damping. "But a place like you described, a great Force temple should register in the force like a beacon anyway."  
  
"You hope" Mara retorted. The prickling in the back of her neck was growing stronger. "Uh oh Skywalker, we got company-on the scopes. I'm reading Victory class impstar."  
  
There was a brief pause. "They haven't spotted us" Luke said finally. "We're hidden by the moon and the static damping."  
  
Mara grunted. "Fine. Let's get on with this then." Skilfully she guided her ship into the planets upper atmosphere. I hope Skywalkers right, she thought. Why do I go along with his crazy schemes? Easy answer to that one, she thought wryly. I like danger.  
  
The two ships, light freighter and x-wing, arrowhead in to Nala Rendil´s atmosphere, heading unerringly towards the largest, jungle-covered continent. They skimmed in at a low altitude just above the treetops, Luke's battered x-wing in the lead.  
  
"Artoo´s got something" he called over the comm. "It's a building-a large one. The Force is strong here, can you feel it?"  
  
"Sure I can" Mara muttered. Her danger sense was shrieking at her, louder than ever. "Luke, there's something bad here. Even I can feel that. And why would the Imps be interested in an old jedi temple?"  
  
"I don't know" Luke said slowly, "but I guess we're about to find out. There's the Temple."  
  
The Temple rose out of the jungle like some great beast. Five great monolithic towers dwarfed the huge jungle trees about them. They were arranged in a simple pattern, four towers in a square and the largest, the fifth, rising up in the centre, towering over the other four. The black glassy stone gleamed in the light of Nala Rendil´s setting sun.  
  
"The design is identical to the ancient jedi temple on Coruscant-before it was destroyed" Luke said in an awed voice.   
  
They overflew the Temple once, seeking a place to land. Luke's x-wing could land on a credit, but the Nightshade was considerably larger. Fortunately at the base of the central tower was a wide stone plaza. The two ships settled. Luke popped the canopy on his x-wing and climbed out, pulling on his jedi robe. Artoo rose from his socket and bleeped. Luke looked up and grinned.  
  
"All right Artoo, I´ll have you down." Concentrating, he raised his hand and Artoo rose a few feet in the air, and was lowered gently to the ground.  
  
"Cute, Skywalker, very cute" Mara said, standing at the bottom of the Shade's landing ramp. She pulled her BlasTech from its holster at her hip and checked it, then looked Luke over, eyebrows raised. "No blaster?"  
  
"I don't need it" Luke replied, "and I figured you were packing enough firepower for the both of us."  
  
Mara did not dignify that with a reply, instead she turned and strode towards the steps leading up to the Temple's main doors. They were ajar.  
  
"Now I know there's something here" she said, her sense of foreboding increasing. "Why would they have left the doors open?"  
  
"I don't know" Luke answered, "but there's only one way to find out. I guess we go straight up. The jedi master who lived here had his chambers at the top of the main tower."  
  
"Glad to see you've done your homework" Mara said sarcastically.  
  
They entered the massive entrance hall together. Mara pulled her blaster, looking around the dimly lit hall. A large blackstone staircase wound upwards at the end of the hall. Nearer, the red blinking lights of a turbolift announced that it was in working order.  
  
"Stairs or lift" she murmured, glancing at Luke. He paused, looking up at the stairs disappearing into shadow at the end the end of the hallway, then at the turbolift.  
  
"Lift, it's quicker."  
  
"Right." Mara punched the door button and it hissed open. She peered inside. It was empty. As the turbolift rose to the temple´s highest level, Mara's danger sense increased. She cast a glance at Luke. He seemed perfectly composed. But then he would be, wouldn't he. He was jedi. And I'm just a smuggler with a really bad feeling about this, she thought to herself as the lift grated to a halt. The door slid aside and they stepped out.  
  
Mara was right. They were not alone. A man stood by the window, silhouetted against the light of the dying sun. His presence and power fairly radiated from him, a presence that made Mara stop dead in her tracks.  
  
"No-it can't be" she whispered. "No way-you're dead."   
  
The figure turned, stepped away from the window, and Luke and Mara could see him clearly. Mara shook her head, confused. He felt like the Emperor, that familiar presence that she knew so well. But he didn't look like him. He was tall, powerful, clad in black with a young face and a mane of shoulder-length white hair. His eyes, the eyes were the same, she noticed numbly, gleamed and a satisfied smile hovered on his lips.  
  
"Welcome" he said, looking straight at Mara. "Your arrival took longer than I expected. Did you have trouble finding my temple?"  
  
Mara steeled herself. "No trouble" she said into the silence that followed. "I guess we walked rather neatly into your trap."  
  
"Yes, you did." Silence. Luke stirred then.  
  
"We destroyed your clones" he grated. "How did you survive?"  
  
The Emperor laughed. "Young Skywalker, you didn't destroy all my clones. I didn't keep them all on Byss. When I died that time, I simply transferred my consciousness into another clone in one of my hidden stores. And now, what must I do with these two traitors before me? One I have in mind to spare. The other, however..."  
  
Luke and Mara looked at each other. Then Luke stepped forward.  
  
"Mara did not betray you" he said loudly.  
Mara stared at him, aghast.  
"Skywalker!" she hissed. "What are you doing, you idiot?"   
  
"Shut up Mara" he growled without looking at her. "She thought you were dead. Had she thought otherwise, she would have continued to serve you. She was loyal."  
"This I already know, Jedi" the Emperor cut him off. "Noble jedi, yes, very noble. Her life will be spared." He stepped up to her and touched her cheek. Mara froze. How could you be so stupid, she yelled at Skywalker in her mind. Damn bantha brained idiot!  
  
"You will serve me again, Mara Jade" Palpatine murmured.   
  
Still frozen in shock, the horror of what he was saying to her finally got through. No! her mind cried, no! I'm my own person now. Nobody owns me! I don't want to serve anyone, I belong to myself!  
  
"No. You never did" he said softly. "You were always mine."  
  
It had been true once, and deep down, Mara was terrified that it still was.  
  
Suddenly Luke broke the tension. "Something's coming" he said harshly. "Friends of yours?"  
  
The Emperor turned away from Mara and reached out with the Force to locate the new arrivals.  
  
"No" he said finally. "They are Sith, enemies of mine.  
  
Mara edged away from him and looked at Luke.  
"Maybe we can let them fight it out among themselves" she muttered "and get out of here quick." Luke nodded.  
  
Palpatine looked at them, amusement showing in his face. "The Jensaarai hate the Sith" he pointed out, "but they hate the jedi more. You will have to fight,or die.  
A black polished door on the far side of the room swung slowly open. All three turned to face it. Framed in the entrance were six beings, each in different coloured armour. Their facemasks were wrought to represent different beasts, with horns and fangs. They were an impressive sight. As one, they stepped into the room, and as one they ignited their lightsabers.  
  
"I don't suppose about this like reasonable people?" Luke murmured. Then, as the mysterious warriors came on at a rush he reached inside his robe and pulled out his lightsaber. As the first attacker reached him, he ignited it and the battle began. Mara lit her own lightsaber, the one Luke had given her, and jumped into the fray. A purple armored warrior snarled at her and aimed a blow at her head. She parried it easily and ducked under his arm to swing at his back-only to discover that the blade bounced off the grotesque armour. So, she thought grimly. Armour that's impervious to lightsabers. It could only be-she ducked under a fierce thrust and parried a sweep from the right-cortosis ore or similar woven into the armour itself. Great.  
  
Luke had made the same discovery himself, fighting a fierce orange warrior who was slowly being beaten back to the wall. Then the warrior made his mistake. He overreached himself with a thrust at Luke, who turned it aside easily. Orange stumbled forward, leaving the unprotected back of his neck open. Luke brought his emerald blade smashing down on Orange's neck and the masked head crashed to the floor, followed by the armoured body. The smell of singed bone and cauterised flesh filled Luke's nostrils as he looked up in time to see Mara dispatch Purple with a well-timed thrust into the armpit. Over on the other side of the chamber, the Emperor was wielding two silver-bladed lightsabers with great skill and ferocity. He had already cut down one opponent and was working on the next.  
  
Mara didn't even have time for a brief breather as she was set upon by Purple's comrade, Green. Green was even hotter with a lightsaber than Purple had been, and she also had the nasty trick of using the Force itself as a weapon. Getting desperate, Mara aimed a blow at Green's neck, but the warrior parried and drove forward, knocking Mara to the ground. She rolled quickly away from one blow, dodged the next and came to her feet, crouched in a combat stance. Green kicked out, Mara ducked and leapt upwards, planting her foot squarely in Green's chest.  
"There, Two can play at that game" she growled as the Sith hit the floor.  
  
Green rolled into a semi-crouch and raised her right hand, palm outward. Mara stopped abruptly. There was a pain in her chest, growing with every breath, and she found it difficult to breathe, as if there were crushing iron bands around her chest. Her eyes widened as she realised her heart was stopping. She's using a Force-whammy to kill me, Mara thought desperately. I cant breathe! Mara fell to her knees on the stone floor, clutching her chest. Spots swam before her eyes, blackness encroached on her vision. Her labouring heart gave one final, weak beat and stopped. (Skywalker!) she cried out in her mind, her agonised mental voice echoing in the minds of the others.  
  
Palpatine was just about to deliver the killing blow when he heard Mara´s dying cry. White stood proudly before him, bereft of hands or lightsaber, then Mara´s agonised voice screamed in his mind. Gathering up all his dark side power, in his fury he unleashed it all at White, who convulsed in a silent scream before exploding all over the wall and floor. Covered in blood, the Emperor leapt down the dais steps, dispatching Green with one furious swing of a silver blade. Mara lay there on the floor, curled up in a knot of agony.  
  
Both lightsabers disappeared into his robe as he knelt beside her body. She couldn't be dead... He rolled her over gently, cradling her head in his arms. Her re-gold hair felt like fine silk to his shaking hands. As he looked down at her beautiful face he realised through his grief and anger that she wasn't dead yet. She was not far off it, however. A shadow fell across them then, and Palpatine looked up to see Skywalker standing there, his expression unreadable, emerald blade burning in his hand.  
  
"Skywalker" he grated harshly, "she's dying. I cant save her."  
  
"I know" Luke said quietly. "Neither can I. Not alone."  
  
"You're not alone" the Emperor growled. "I can't heal-but you can. Help me and we can save her."  
  
Why is he so desperate to save Mara, Luke wondered. But I don't want her to die either.  
  
"Very well" he said, and held out his hand. The Emperor reached out and gripped it in a powerful grasp. He glared at Luke.  
  
"No tricks, Skywalker" he said with teeth bared.  
  
"Agreed" Luke nodded. "Lets do this."  
  
At once, the warm power of the Dark Side flowed around him, over him, into him. He fought it briefly, but then allowed himself to be drawn into Mara´s body. The healing work was hard, requiring all Luke's concentration. Externally, he was unaware of little things, such as the sweat dripping into his eyes, or the fact that his hand and arm were rapidly numbing.  
  
Palpatine pulled Luke's mind into Mara, urging him to hurry. Mara was dying, leaving them. She had to be called back. (Mara), he called gently into her mind. (Mara, come back. Don't die, Mara. Come back). And then, ever so faint, like the echo of an echo, he heard her.  
  
(Master?) she answered.  
  
(Master, it's so dark. Where are you? Why did you leave?)  
  
(Mara!) He cried in her mind. (Mara, don't leave.)  
  
(I'm not leaving,) she replied, her mind-voice getting stronger.  
  
(I'm here Mara,) he said softly.  
  
(I know) he heard her say before his link with her was broken as Luke's healing was complete.   
  
The Emperor opened his eyes to see Skywalker slumped over, breathing hard. Mara lay on the floor between them. He still had her head cradled in his arms. Luke and Palpatine both looked down at her as her eyelids flickered.  
  
"Master?" she sighed as she opened her lovely green eyes. Palpatine freed one hand to brush a lock of red-gold hair out of her face. "I'm here." He caught the stricken look on Luke's face and smiled.  
  
Mara had a brief moment of confusion as she came round. Her Master was there, as she knew, but why was Skywalker there, and alive? She blinked. What had happened? Mara shakily attempted to get to her feet. My legs feel like jelly, she thought muzzily. When Luke moved to help her, she snarled at him to get back, reaching for her lightsaber only to find that it was missing. The Emperor put a hand under her elbow to support her, and handed her the lightsaber Skywalker had given her.  
  
"Come, Mara. We must leave now, with our young friend here" he said, smiling unpleasantly at Luke.  
  
"What happened here, Master?" Mara shook her head. "I can't remember anything."  
  
"Not anything?" Palpatine´s smile was triumphal.  
  
"I feel like I've been away from you for a long time, Master. Why is Skywalker here?  
  
The Emperor looked at Luke. He seemed to be in shock. "Simply put, my dear, you brought me Skywalker. Unfortunately the Jensaarai interceded and you nearly died. And now, my ship awaits." Palpatine studied the statue-like jedi master for a moment, then touched his fingers to Luke's forehead. Skywalker sagged, then toppled to the ground. He was out like a light.  
  
"The guards will bring him" the Emperor said indifferently. He took Mara´s arm and led her through the bodies to the door. "I must find something of value to exchange for the gift you have given me, my dear."  
  
Somehow, Mara, looking back at the unconscious Jedi on the floor, wasn't entirely sure that he was talking about Skywalker. She shrugged. It was of no moment. She had done her duty, and done it well. Duty and the Master, they were all that mattered. She was, after all, the Emperor's Hand.   
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
